Blurred Lines
by disarranging
Summary: "If you're going to do something wrong, do it right." After all, you know what they say: revenge is a dish best served with...expensive wine and rash decisions. Lauren hatches a plan to cheer both herself and Joey up which leads to a rather unexpected, or not, situation. 4-part story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n:**** So, this started off as a one-shot...which got ****_very_**** out of control. Therefore, it has been promoted from a one-shot to a small (ha!) four-chapter story. It has literally been my enemy to write…but I'm hoping the hard work has paid off and that it makes for a good read. Now that it's done and I've got the idea out of my system, I can focus on the 'Falling' epilogue and outtakes again.**

**Just a few important points:**** in this story, Lauren doesn't have, and never has had, a drinking problem. She's nineteen, Joey is twenty-three. I've changed a few things round and altered a few personalities (including Bitchy Twiglet's)...so just try and go with it. Hopefully everything else will become self-explanatory...**

**I've written it in a different style to my other J/L fics in the sense that it isn't in 1st person, so I'm definitely a bit nervous about it. My fingers are crossed that it's still just as enjoyable. Anyway, enough babbling: here's the first part. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Lauren checked her hair and make-up one last time in the mirror before slipping, or more like struggling, into her heels and shrugging on her leather jacket. She may not have been all that enthusiastic for this night out, what with Whitney and Tyler's engagement only further reminding her that she had no one, but damn it she was going to look good even if it killed her, and these heels just might.

Checking she had everything she needed, she pulled the front door open, shouting goodbye to her mum and two younger siblings before closing it behind her. She got halfway down the steps outside of the house only to be stopped by her dad, who shook his head at her as he got out of the car. Lauren breathed in, preparing herself for what she knew was coming.

"Oh no, I don't think so," he warned, twirling his index finger in the air as if to tell her to turn around and head straight back inside. "You are not going out dressed like that."

"I already am out," Lauren replied, without missing a beat, shrugging and taking another step down.

"Well you can just go back inside, can't you?" Max quipped, folding his arms in front of him. "Honestly, Lauren, could that dress get any shorter?"

"Yes, it could actually, but I'm quite happy with it how it is," she informed him, smiling at him sarcastically as she reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped in front of her dad. "Thanks for your interest though."

Lauren knew that there was no point whatsoever explaining that, compared to the majority of other dress-lengths that would be visible in the R&R tonight, hers was practically that of a nun's. Yes, it was short, she would give him that. But at least it more than sufficiently covered her bum. She liked to keep some things to the imagination, and wished other people would too.

And besides, the long sleeves and fairly modest, scoop neckline balanced out the amount of leg showing. She considered her legs to be her best feature. Lauren hated a lot of things about her body, but her legs were, mercifully, the only part she had no qualms about.

"You're_ not_ going out like that," Max repeated, giving his eldest daughter a determined glare.

He didn't want to stop her going out and having fun, especially not when he was so proud of how well she had been doing at Art College, despite the teething problems. But Max knew how the minds of males' of Lauren's age work, and he didn't want them thinking of his daughter in that way. She had already had her heart broken by idiots who were nowhere near good enough for her too many times for his liking. The list didn't need adding to.

"Dad, really, we can keep doing this if you want to," Lauren told him, quirking her eyebrow at him as she crossed her arms, mirroring his pose. "I'll stand here all night; I inherited your stubborn gene remember? But I am _not_ getting changed. I'm a nineteen year old and I'll wear whatever I want."

"And what about your mum?" Is she not bothered?" Max demanded.

Lauren had to smile, slightly triumphantly. She knew how it went; once her dad brought her mum into the argument, he was close to caving in.

"Mum helped me choose it, actually," Lauren assured him. "She doesn't have a problem, so why do you?"

Max chewed over his chances of swaying his daughter on her choice of dress. He knew he was doomed from the amused steeliness in her eyes. He would have to admit defeat, again. God knew Lauren would be the death of him one day.

"You stay with your mates, don't go wandering off, yeah?" Max cautioned her, ignoring her cat-got-the-cream smile.

"We're going to the _R&R_, Dad. It's across the Square, not a million miles away," Lauren argued, before rolling her eyes at her dad. Sometimes she was sure he, and several other people in this place, still thought she was about twelve. "But, yeah, fine, I promise not to go chasing any white rabbits."

"If that was all you ever chased I could sleep easier at night..." Max mumbled, receiving a sharp slap on the arm from his daughter. "Just be careful, yeah?"

"Yes, Sir," Lauren said, throwing him a mock salute. She leaned forwards and kissed her dad's cheek. "Love you, see you tomorrow. I'll try and be quiet when I get in."

"I've heard that before," Max said whilst giving her a knowing look. "Have fun, Lauren. Love you too."

Lauren threw him a grin, turning on the spot as someone shouted her from across the Square. She waved goodbye to her dad and started to make her way over to where Lucy was stood waiting for her.

"Why aren't you dressed?!" Lauren asked, brandishing her arms dramatically in front of her still-plainly dressed friend. "We were supposed to be at Whit's ages ago. And I thought I was running behind!"

"Oh god, I know," Lucy moaned, grimacing. "There was a problem at the caf; Marie had to go home because of some sort of emergency so I only just got away."

"Well you better go and sort yourself out, pronto!" Lauren advised, shooing her friend towards her house. "C'mon, I'll make sure you choose something that won't cramp my style."

"Oh yeah, as if that would ever happen; you're the embarrassing one," Lucy muttered. Lauren rolled her eyes, clicking her fingers in Lucy's face when she still hadn't made any attempt to move, her eyes fixed to a house across the Square.

"What's wrong with you now?" Lauren demanded, turning and sighing as she realised where she was looking. "Would you just _get over him_?! For the love of God, Luce..."

"D'you reckon _he's_ coming out tonight?" Lucy asked, looking stuck between hope and dread.

"I have no idea," Lauren replied impatiently. "And even if he is, that shouldn't make any difference to you!" When she still didn't look convinced, Lauren groaned, frustrated at the position she had been put in. "Look, Luce, he obviously isn't interested in you, so move on, have some dignity. For my sake if not for yours, please."

Lauren didn't always enjoy having to be the one to tell it like it was, but when it came to Lucy's ever-lasting infatuation with a certain Joey Branning, the best option was just to be cruel to be kind.

From the second Lucy had set eyes on Lauren's elder cousin when he had first moved to the Square a couple of years ago, she had made him the unwilling target of her affections. And other than an extremely brief, drunken fling they had had when they first met, Joey had shown no interest, romantically, in Lucy. This fact didn't appear to deter her in any way, shape or form, however, leaving both of them insufferably irritated, but for different reasons.

But more irritated than the both of them was Lauren. Over the last year, Lauren and Joey had built up a surprisingly strong friendship. And whilst this was a good thing on the whole, it had also encouraged Lucy to use Lauren as the go-between, hoping she could manage to convince Joey that she was the one for him, through Lauren.

The thing was though, that Lauren knew that Lucy was _not_ the one for Joey, and vice versa. She didn't know who was 'the one', but she just knew that they shouldn't be together. She confessed that she could see why Lucy liked him as much as she did; he was older, charming, and not to mention disgracefully attractive. But when after two years a guy _still_ hasn't shown any interest in you, you really ought to back off a bit.

Lauren had to admit that when he had first moved to Walford, she too used to have a teeny, tiny, miniscule, little crush on her elder cousin. And by teeny, tiny, miniscule and little, she meant horrifically huge.

As in, one glance of his smouldering, hazel eyes in her direction would set her cheeks aflame. And as in, an unintentional brush of his skin against hers at the dining table or in the street practically had her on the verge of unconsciousness. And as in, certain recurring dreams which always seemed to feature the two of them with little to no clothes on left her waking up a panting, unsatisfied mess, tangled up in her single bed covers.

But it was okay now. She had got over her issues. She had moved on.

Well, that was what she had convinced herself anyway.

No, seriously.

Forcing her wholly inappropriate crush to the back of her mind and locking it firmly in a draw there, she had actually grown quite close to Joey, on a strictly friends-only basis, of course. They were actually fairly similar. Both had had somewhat difficult childhoods, both could be seen as slightly moody sometimes, and both were feisty enough that they weren't scared of each other.

To be honest, they would probably both agree that they saw each other more as close friends than cousins. Partly due to the fact that they hadn't grown up together, and partly due to the fact that the vibe between them just didn't _feel _like a cousin-ly vibe.

But Lauren wasn't thinking about that anymore, obviously.

"Ugh, talk of the devil," Lucy whispered suddenly, pulling a face and finally turning and walking into the house. "You coming or what, Lauren?"

Lauren was distracted though, noticing her cousin stalking past, his brow furrowed and his fists clenched, one of which seemed to be bleeding. She knew that Joey's dad, her Uncle Derek, whom Joey didn't exactly get on with like a house on fire, had returned from one of his business trips today. They were supposed to be trying to get along better, but if they had had another bust up there would definitely be trouble...

"Err, I'll meet you at Whit's, Luce," Lauren told Lucy hurriedly. "Just need to check something."

Without waiting for Lucy's opinion on this, Lauren followed after Joey as quickly as she could, trying to make sure she didn't break her ankles in those heels as she went.

"Joe!" she called, grabbing his arm and pulling him round to face her. His eyes were stormy but they softened as they fell on his cousin; she was just about the only person he would want to talk to right now, not that he would admit that to anyone, including himself, of course. "What's up? What happened to your hand?!"

Lauren pulled his injured hand towards her, holding it gently in her own as she examined his bruised and cut-up knuckles. He had definitely punched someone, or some_thing_.

Whilst Lauren's attention was occupied with his hand, Joey took the opportunity to appreciate how good his cousin looked. This wasn't the first time he had noticed how good she looked; she could just wear tracksuit  
bottoms and a t-shirt and look amazing. But tonight, in that illegally form-fitting dress, she looked _gorgeous_.

Joey knew he shouldn't really _ever_ think that way about Lauren, what with her being one of his only close friends here, and them being related and all. But he couldn't help it. He couldn't understand it either. She wasn't even his usual...type. He normally went for cuter, more petite blondes. And yet his hot-tempered, brunette of a cousin, whose legs appeared to go on for days, definitely seemed to steal his attention in all the right and wrong ways.

"You look...amazing, babe," Joey said, smirking at her as her slightly as her eyes snapped back up to his.

"Thanks," Lauren mumbled, blushing slightly. This made Joey's smirk grow; Lauren was one of the most ballsy, unflappable girls he had ever met, and yet she was notoriously bad at taking a compliment. Avoiding looking at the disgustingly adorable dimples on Joey's face, Lauren composed herself. "Now answer the question. What happened?"

"I punched the locker," he confessed, a soft growl behind his voice, his hand curling into a fist over Lauren's narrow fingers. Lauren pretended that the feel of her hand being engulfed by his much larger one didn't do things to her it _definitely_ shouldn't have done.

Lauren sighed. Judging from Joey's reluctance to expand on what happened, she would wager good money that Derek had something to do with this. So, instead of pushing him on it immediately, because she knew that would get them nowhere, she pulled her fingers somewhat reluctantly out of his grasp and linked her arm through his, starting to lead them towards his house.

"C'mon, I'll fix your hand for you," she told him. She tried to keep the small, indulgent smile off her face as she spoke, remembering how she had said something very similar to him not long after they had first met, her offer to fix his bust lip being the unofficial start of their friendship.

"You don't need to do that, babe," he said, halting their progress across the Square. "You're going out; you don't want to start off your night looking after me."

"Joey, do I ever offer to do things for people if I don't really want to do them?" she asked him, meeting his gaze with a levelling one of her own.

"No," he admitted, smiling at her softly.

At one time, this smile, the one that Lauren knows he only gives to a very select few people, would have sent her heart aflutter. It was something about the way his eyes lit up, making him look less arrogant than he can sometimes come across as. Oh, and not to mention the dimples. The godforsaken dimples which Lauren was convinced would one day be the demise of her. She had already mortified herself a few months earlier by letting slip that she liked them, not having realised that Joey was standing right behind her at the time. She had managed to do some damage control by falsely claiming that it was a shame the rest of his face was so ugly, but she didn't think he bought it; simply laughing at her and occasionally bringing it up every now and then just to embarrass her some more.

Stupid, attractive boy with should-be-illegal dimples.

But this time, she managed to control her emotions. Honestly.

"Alright then, let's go," she prompted, pulling on his impressive bicep until he started to walk beside her. "Besides, we're only going to the R&R. And to be honest with you, Joe, I'd much rather spend time with you than sit for an hour whilst Lucy puts on fifty different outfits and ends up in the first one she picked out. 'Cause, honestly, it's not a night out you need after that; it's therapy."

Joey chuckled at his friend, his mood already much improved from when he left the gym. He didn't know how she always managed to make him feel better, but he was thankful that she did.

They walked the short distance to Joey's house in comfortable silence. Joey opened the door and held it open for her, indicating with a nod of his head that she should go first. It would be so much easier, Lauren realised, not to harbour inappropriate crushes on him if he could stop with the seeming to be a million times more perfect to her than any other guy she had ever met.

It was a testament to how comfortable Lauren was around Joey and how close they had become that she felt no qualms in making a beeline for the first aid box which she knew was kept in the kitchen before clomping back up the hallway and shoving him into the living room. She was glad as she did so that it appeared that neither Joey's sister, Alice, nor Derek seemed to be in at the time; Derek would just antagonise Joey even further, and Alice would accuse him of not making an effort with their dad. No, it was best that it was just the two of them.

Joey sat down on the sofa, as per Lauren's request, secretly enjoying the attention she was giving him. Normally, with any other girl, he would have been more forthcoming, but with Lauren he was always wary that he wasn't sure exactly where the line was between them. He knew there must be one somewhere, or _should _be one anyway, and he didn't want to cross it. He didn't want to jeopardise their friendship, make things uncomfortable between them.

Lauren flopped down onto the sofa next to him, pulling his hand onto her lap as she proceeded to clean up the cuts. Whilst she worked, Joey tried not to notice that, due to the shortness of her dress, he could feel the smooth skin of her thigh beneath his fingers. He had to remind himself yet again that this was his _cousin_, even if she didn't seem like she was.

"All done," Lauren announced as she finished up with his hand. She lifted her head and felt her breath hitch as she met his intense gaze, not having realised that he had been watching her. She really did need to stop letting him affect her so much.

"Thanks, babe," he said, examining his hand and smiling at her again. If he had noticed her slight flustering, he didn't react to it. Lauren didn't know whether this pleased her or not, but rather than delve into that particular problem, she busied herself with closing up the first aid box and avoiding Joey's eyes.

"Leave that, babe," Joey told her, his hand closing over hers once again and effectively stopping her fussing. "I'll do it later."

"I don't mind," she replied, her eyes fixed on their joined hands.

Lauren didn't know what had come over her today. She genuinely wasn't normally this fluttery around him, or her heart wasn't, at least. It wasn't like they hadn't occasionally been a bit touchy-feely before. Hell, he had even given her an impromptu boxing lesson only a week before which had ended up with her somehow tripping over her own feet and pulling Joey down with her. In that case, she had ended up half lying across his _very_ muscular chest whilst they both fell apart laughing. She had survived _that_ without any worrying signs of forthcoming heart attacks, so why was him simply holding her hand having such an effect on her now?

"Aren't you supposed to be going out?" Joey asked, his tone suggesting that he had cottoned on to the fact that she didn't seem that all that eager to re-join her friends. He knew Lauren liked to go out and let her hair down, so this was out of character for her.

"Well...yeah," she sighed, freeing her hand from his grasp softly and starting to fiddle with the hem of her dress, the thought of the night ahead still not really seeming all that enticing to her. "I'm not really feeling that into it, though."

"You look the part considering you don't feel it," Joey said after a moment, only _just_ resisting the temptation to scan his eyes down her body again.

Lauren snorted delicately, rolling her eyes at his easy charm. She looked the part, yeah. But when you're the only single one, apart from Lucy of course, who doesn't count because she spends all her time pining after Joey, it's hard to _feel_ the part.

"Yeah, not that it helps," she groaned.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, his head tilting to the side slightly as he tried to work out what she was thinking.

"It's just..." Lauren sighed, mulling over whether she wanted to share this with her cousin. It was bad enough admitting it to herself. "I still always end up alone, don't I? It's like I only ever attract absolute nutters or guys who just want to mess me about."

Joey took a while to reply, struggling to decide how he felt about Lauren's admission. On the one hand, he felt angry that she had been made to feel like this; he didn't like the thought of anyone 'messing her about', as she had put it. It made his fists curl, to be honest; the image very much tapping into his protective nature.

On the other hand, he felt an odd sense of morbid happiness. Happiness that she hadn't thought that any of the guys who had paid her attention were right for her, because he knew that they very much weren't. He didn't know why he knew this. Or maybe he _did_ know, but just didn't want to think about the connotations of acknowledging that particular piece of information. Mainly because he knew that, whilst his anger at the thought of some idiot messing his cousin around could perhaps be seen as understandable, his bizarre willingness to almost keep her for himself most definitely would _not_.

"You're too good for them all anyway, babe," he told her eventually, watching as her eyes widened slightly before her deep-seated habit of not seeing herself clearly set in and her gaze turned cynical. "You don't believe me do you?"

Lauren shook her head, feeling a blush creep onto her cheeks, and, embarrassingly, tears building behind her eyes. She evidently had just lost control of her emotions today, she decided.

"Babe, honestly, you're better off without any of the idiots you'll find in a club, especially in the R&R," Joey surmised, reaching over and lifting her chin, a strange feeling washing through him as he saw the tears shining in her brown eyes.

"_You_ work in the R&R, do I count you in that band of idiots I might find there?" Lauren asked, smiling crookedly at him as she made an attempt to lighten the mood, despite the fact that tears were still threatening to fall.

"Do you _want_ to count me in it?" he quipped, smirking at her slightly, his thumb brushing across the skin of her cheek without him really thinking about doing it.

Lauren pretended to think seriously for a moment before shaking her head, sniggering slightly and laughing.

"Nah, I definitely like you way better than them," she told him, realising after she said it that a much heavier meaning could be interpreted in her words.

She froze momentarily, worrying that she had said too much, before Joey's amused, genuine smile put her at ease. He swiped at a tear which had finally broken free, much to Lauren's horror, making his next move, yet again, without really thinking about it.

"C'mere," he murmured, pulling Lauren onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her tightly. Apparently, the sight of seeing sight of his friend so much less sure of herself brought out a whole other side of him. They were used to being open with each other, and Joey knew how much Lauren hated to let her guard down. It made him feel inexplicably pleased that she trusted him enough to let it down with him, to be vulnerable around him.

The slight shock of Joey's gesture wore off quickly for Lauren as she relaxed into his warm embrace. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that this was potentially _very_ dangerous territory for her over-active imagination, but wild horses would have to have dragged her away from him in that moment. If not only for the fact that being wrapped up in Joey's arms might just have become her favourite place, then for the fact that when she _was_ in his arms she felt so much more in control of her emotions and just...herself.

She felt Joey tighten his hold on her and shuffle back into the sofa so as to get more comfortable. He curled one arm under her knees and brought her fully against him before winding said arm around her stomach as her head fell to the crook of his neck as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

And to the two of them it did actually feel that way.

But they weren't going to think about that right now.

Joey couldn't help but smile slightly as Lauren snuggled against him, sighing as she did so. For the most part, Joey tended to avoid situations like _this_ with girls. He realised this made him sound like a bit of a dick. In his eyes though, if he didn't really care that much, why make them think he did? Not that that philosophy worked with a certain Lucy Beale, but nevermind. When it came to Lauren though, as always seemed to be the case, everything was different. If this was what Lauren wanted, then he would give it to her. And even stranger, he _wanted_ to.

It _should've_ felt awkward for them both, sat like this. But it didn't.

But as previously stated, they just weren't going to go there.

"So, are you gonna tell me what the locker did to offend you now?" Lauren asked him, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over them.

He sighed deeply, his chest rising and falling beneath her. He didn't answer straight away, but Lauren remained patient, simply playing with the strings of his hoodie, giving him time to think.

"Derek got back, didn't he?" Joey explained bitterly after a minute, confirming Lauren's earlier suspicions and absentmindedly running his hand up and down her back as he did so. He wasn't _technically_ supposed to be calling his dad Derek any more after a fuss had been kicked up that it was 'disrespectful', but when it was just him and Lauren, he could drop all the pretences.

"He's still as delightful as always, I take it?" Lauren asked sympathetically. She wasn't a big fan of her uncle either, what with him always sticking his ore in where it very much wasn't wanted and stirring up trouble when it had nothing to do with him, especially when it came to her mum and dad's relationship.

"Alice certainly thinks so, yeah," Joey mumbled, rolling his eyes at his sister's unrelenting determination to the see the good in everyone, including their ex-con of a dad.

"I don't think you're ever going to change her mind on this, Joe," Lauren told him gently. The fact that Alice thought the sun shone out of Derek's arse was a permanent thorn in Joey's side, and the problem was that the more Joey tried to convince her otherwise, the more she dug her heels in, such was their similarity, truth be told.

"I know. It's just..." Joey couldn't seem to find the words to adequately express how much his father's behaviour had been irritating him. "He manipulates her, Lauren."

"He manipulates everyone if he can get away with it," she replied. Manipulating was just in Derek's nature. It didn't matter who it was or the significance of what he wanted; he just always wanted things his way or no way. It was the reason him and Joey and Alice's mum split up, it was the reason he had created a lot of enemies for himself, and was the reason that Joey was desperately searching for somewhere else to live.

"Yeah, and she _always_ lets him get away with it," Joey groaned. "She was supposed to be going to see Mum this weekend but he's roped her into some sort of 'family dinner' that he literally just made up on the spot because he doesn't want her to go see Mum."

"Urgh, he's not still convinced she tells Alice lies about him is he?" Lauren asked, remembering the argument there had been when Alice had told Derek that she going to spend Christmas with her mum. He was bigheaded enough, or maybe it was stupidly paranoid enough, to think that their mum would spend the whole time filling Alice's head with reasons not to like him anymore.

"Probably. I told him he was being out of order, but he's not bothered is he? Then he left and I was just angry so..." he trailed off. Talking about it was making him feel as frustrated as he was in the moment.

"So you punched the locker to get some form of revenge..." Lauren finished off for him, reaching for his injured hand and pushing her fingers through his. She wasn't sure why she did it; she just did.

"Would you rather I'd punched _him_?" Judging from the tone of his voice though, Lauren could tell it was actually him that would have preferred that.

"No, definitely not," she assured him, sitting up as she did so and looking him straight in the eye. The last thing she wanted was for Joey to give Derek and the rest of the family even more ammunition to argue that Joey was holding grudges just to cause trouble. It made her blood boil sometimes to see how unfair they all were; everyone knew how awkward and conniving Derek could be, and yet only _they_ were allowed to call him out on it, never Joey, even though Joey had more right than anyone.

"What then?" Joey asked, squeezing her fingers as he pulled her away from her train of thought.

"You wanna know what I think, Joe?" she questioned, making up the plan as she went along.

He nodded, his eyes following her as she dropped his hand, clambered out of his arms somewhat regrettably, got up from the sofa and walked over to her uncle's prized drinking cabinet. She knew this would undoubtedly get her into trouble, but that had never stood in her way before.

Joey made no attempt to stop her. To be honest, his cousin's feistiness was one of the many things he liked about her. She didn't care what anyone else thought, not really. That didn't mean she didn't care though; that much was evident from the mere fact that she was here, looking after him. Or else, aiding him in his anger against his father.

"I think," Lauren began, returning to sofa with what Joey knew to be the most expensive bottle of wine in the cabinet. She was a genius, he had to admit. This would _definitely_ piss off his dad much more than a dented locker in the gym he owns a share of would. "That if you're going to do something wrong, do it right."

"You're supposed to be going out..." Joey reminded her half-heartedly. He didn't actually want her to leave. And considering how pathetically proud his dad was of his alcohol collection, the idea of drinking the prized possession with Lauren sounded pretty amazing to him right there and then.

"Consider this our pre-drinks then," she said, winking at him as she turned in order to retrieve two wine glasses and a corkscrew which she then held out to Joey. She may as well make sure he made use of his muscles, mightn't she?

"Our?" Joey repeated, raising his eyebrow at her as he complied with her wishes, unscrewing the cork from the bottle and making it look like a much easier feat than Lauren had ever managed to make it look. "I told Ty I wasn't coming out."

"So? They're not gonna care," Lauren assured him, taking the bottle from him and pouring them both a generous glass. Joey smirked at her; feisty Lauren had definitely come out to play, her insecurities from earlier apparently all forgotten now. "Please come out, Joe. It's been ages since we had a night out."

Lauren pouted at him, really wanting him to come out with them now that the idea had entered her mind. Between the whole Lucy issue and the fact that Joey often worked, he hadn't really joined in many of their nights out for a while. And much as Lauren kind of hated seeing girls throw themselves at him, literally _throw_ themselves sometimes, she couldn't lie that she missed him when he wasn't there. Because when the rest of the gang had paired off, she could count on Joey being there, whether just to hang out with him, or to walk her home.

Plus, in a club, it was perfectly acceptable, no, necessary, to stand way too close to him as they fought through the crowd. Not that Lauren was bothered about standing close to him, obviously.

"Please?" she repeated, curling her legs underneath her body as she sat back down on the sofa, leaning sideways against the back cushion as she faced Joey. "We'll drink this wine, we'll go out, we'll have a good time, and you can forget all about your dad-related issues, yeah?"

"I don't know, Lauren," Joey hedged, torn between wanting to spend more time with her, but also not wanting to risk treading over that seemingly invisible line between them. "I'm not even dressed."

"You can go and get dressed," Lauren said, batting away his excuse with optimistic confidence. "You'll still be ready before the rest of them anyway."

"I need a shower too," Joey told her.

"A shower takes five minutes," she quipped, desperately forbidding her mind to imagine him, Adonis-like, in the shower...and failing. The worst thing was she couldn't even blame it on the wine; she hadn't taken a sip yet. No, she had to blame it on that time just after they met when she had been sat in the kitchen with Alice having dropped round some car-lot stuff for Derek, eating breakfast, and Joey had walked in, not expecting either of them to be there, in nothing but a towel. That was when she had first realised that he hadn't just lucked out with a handsome face, but was just, in fact, sinfully attractive all over.

Lauren cleared her throat, shaking herself out of the memory of Joey's still-slightly-wet torso. Two years worth of trying to get over him was apparently going straight out of the window tonight.

"Please?" she tried again. "You can save me from the nutters."

"Alright, alright," he sighed. Lauren couldn't help but grin; she knew if she pulled out the damsel in distress card he would cave. Joey knew this too, but there was not a chance in hell he was going to let her go out and end up as upset as she was before if he could help it. "But you have to save me from Lucy in return, yeah?"

"It would be my pleasure," she laughed. He didn't need to know just how much of a pleasure that would be. She raised her glass up to his and clinked them together, still beaming at him jubilantly. "To saving each other."

Joey laughed, her enthusiasm catching. He had told her once, when they first met, that she should smile more often, and he definitely still thought he was right about that. She hadn't taken him seriously then, though, so she wasn't likely to now. He would just have to keep getting her to do it without her realising, he decided.

"And to revenge," he added, inclining his head towards the now half-empty wine bottle. He almost hoped Derek got back before they left just so that he could see his face when he realised his precious drinks cabinet had been raided.

"Revenge," Lauren agreed, finally bringing the glass to her lips and taking a long sip, hissing slightly as she did do. "Crap that's strong. Good, but strong."

"What did you expect?" Joey asked, laughing softly as Lauren choked a little. "He has to drink the strong stuff because his senses are deadened from all the bullshit he comes out with."

"Oh, Joey," she laughed. "You definitely need to start drinking. You sound far too bitter still."

Joey smiled crookedly at her before making a start on his own glass, pulling a face at it as he did so. Wine wasn't really his thing, if he was being honest. And Lauren was right; this bottle definitely wasn't lacking in the alcohol volume department.

"Urgh," he groaned. If it was strong for him, he had to wonder what it was going to do to his much tinier cousin. "Tell you what, it's a good job I'm coming with you, babe. Especially after last time."

Lauren moaned with embarrassment, taking another large sip of wine just to distract herself from getting too caught up in the memory. The last time Lauren had been on a night out Joey knew that she had drank only the same as everyone else, what with him having been working at the time and serving the drinks, yet somehow she had still managed to get much drunker than the rest of them. Not stupidly drunk, but drunk enough that Joey had ended up having to get someone to cover his shift whilst he carried her home.

"Please don't remind me," she mumbled. "I know I'm a lightweight, but was the carrying me home like some sort of caveman really necessary?"

Joey threw her a look that suggested that, yes, it was very necessary. And to be honest, Lauren wasn't bothered either way; she may have been _slightly_ inebriated, but she wasn't so drunk that she couldn't remember how amazing it felt being carried in her friend's powerful and shockingly comfortable arms.

"Okay, fine," she conceded, blushing under his amused gaze. "But that's not going to happen again. The needing-to-be-carried thing, I mean."

She tried to keep the fraudulent lack of confidence out of her voice, but probably failed quite miserably.

"Whatever you say, babe," Joey replied, trying not to think too deeply into the fact that he had enjoyed looking after her that night probably more than he should have done. In all fairness, Joey could've easily carried on keeping an eye on her from the bar that night; he didn't absolutely need to take her home straight away. But the amount of guys who had crowded round her clearly hoping to get lucky had wound him right up, and so he had ushered her out of there at the first opportunity.

"Is Derek going to be really annoyed about this?" Lauren asked him, running her index finger over the rim of her glass.

"Probably," Joey nodded, shrugging nonchalantly. "You know how weird he is about this stuff."

"Joe?" she asked him after a second. He hummed in response, looking round at her. "If he comes back and goes mad, you may have to actually carry me one last time, 'cause I can't run in these heels to save my life."

They both laughed at this, the wine apparently already taking effect on Lauren who seemed to find it funnier than it really was, much to Joey's amusement. He found himself thankful yet again that she had come after him outside before and lured him out of his bad mood.

"It would be my pleasure, babe," he told her, repeating her words and smiling as he did so. No need for her to know just how much of a pleasure it would be, of course. He brought his glass to his lips again and took a long sip, hoping that the Dutch courage would give him the strength not to rise to the challenge the beautiful brunette in front of him presented.

Because he liked a challenge. Loved one, in fact.

Tonight was going to be interesting for them both, that was for sure…

**A/n:**** I think Joey might just be right with his little understatement there...**

**So, thoughts? If you got this far down the page, I'm hoping that means you enjoyed it? Would love to know.**

**Will be back tomorrow with part two of four. See you then (hopefully!). x **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: Okay, here we go with the second part of their "interesting" night... Hope you like it...**

Chapter 2

A good hour or so later, Joey was showered and dressed, and they had drank their way happily through the rest of the wine, the easy friendship between them never once faltering or turning awkward. Lauren had arranged to meet up with Whitney and the rest of the gang in the club rather than at her house. This suited them both better really: Joey would be spared from the longing glances Lucy would undoubtedly send his way, and Lauren would be spared the always-mortifying 'we're going to find you a boyfriend' parade which had sort of become a standard part of their pre-going out ritual.

"You ready then, babe?" Joey asked her, chucking her jacket onto the sofa where she had ended up lying down, watching TV. "It was your idea to go out and now you look like you've settled down for the night."

"Well it's not my fault _some_ people take longer to do their hair than I do," she quipped, rolling her eyes in mock defiance. 'Mock' because it was actually partly just a way to not ogle at him, because he scrubbed up well, and he knew it.

Lauren switched the TV off with the remote and held a hand out to Joey who pulled her up with ease, steadying her as she overbalanced slightly; wine and killer heels apparently being rather deadly in that department.

"Oops," she giggled, her hand sliding across his solid chest much more boldly than she would normally have dared. The wine, she decided, perhaps wasn't such a good idea; those already-blurred lines were fading even more tonight. She could only hope that once they had joined the others things would calm down a little. Or, if not calm down, then at least allow her to be distracted enough to stop fixating on how good his muscular arms looked in that shirt…

Joey shook his head at her minutely, a small, amused smile on his face as he realised that not only would he be saving her from whatever scumbags were in the R&R tonight, he would also be saving her from herself. He watched as her cheeks turned slightly pink under his gaze, her fingers grasping his a little tighter as her brown eyes bore into his. For some reason he couldn't seem to look away, not that he really wanted to.

The sound of keys in the front door caused the two to move apart abruptly, neither of them having realised quite how close they had been stood, and for how long. Lauren busied herself with putting on her jacket whilst Joey grabbed his keys, both of them pushing the possible connotations of the moment to the backs of their minds.

"Joey?" Alice called from the hall, announcing her presence. Joey wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or not that it wasn't Derek who had turned up; he hadn't been lying to himself before when he had decided he would love to witness his reaction to his ransacked wine collection.

"In here, Al," Joey replied. ""We're just about to leave."

"Oh, right," she said, making her way into the room, her eyes moving from her brother to Lauren who guiltily glanced at the empty bottle of Derek's wine. "Hi, Lauren."

"Hey," Lauren replied, trying to keep her tone even. She managed to catch Joey's eye as Alice looked away from her and was slightly relieved by the smile he threw her, shaking his head as if to say 'don't worry about it'. "Are you not coming out for Whit and Ty's engagement?"

"I was going to but Dad took me out for dinner," Alice explained, dismissing Joey's unimpressed huffing. "And we only just got back. He's had to shoot off somewhere though for work now, so he won't be back till tomorrow."

"Well, we can wait for you if you want to go get ready?" Lauren didn't really _want_ to wait for her, but she felt like he had to ask. It wasn't that she didn't like Alice, per se; they actually got on quite well. But her loyalty lay with Joey, and Alice had unintentionally caused a lot of angst in terms of the whole Derek-issue.

"Nah, but thanks for the offer," Alice smiled. "I'm gonna go over to Tam's and watch a film instead."

"_Tamwar_?" Joey chimed in, his irritation fast being channelled away from Derek and towards his sister's love life. Lauren sensed the caveman version of Joey making a reappearance any second now. "What's wrong with watching films on your own? In daylight? And with no boys?"

"Okay," Lauren sighed in a sing-song voice before Alice could retaliate, walking over to Joey and starting to attempt to usher him out of the house the same way she had ushered him in. "We're gonna go, because we're already late. So...enjoy your film, Alice."

"No, no, Lauren, let him get it off his chest," Alice cut in, crossing her arms and glaring angrily at her brother. "He obviously has a problem with Tamwar."

"He doesn't have a problem with him," Lauren told her. "He's just looking after you."

"No, actually I do have a problem-" Joey snapped until Lauren stopped him, briefly pressing a finger over his lips and throwing him a warning look. They were supposed to be forgetting all the drama tonight, not digging up more of it.

"He _doesn't_ have a problem," she insisted, turning her gaze onto Alice now. "What he _means_, it that he hopes you have a good night but that you don't walk home on your own, isn't that right, Joe?"

"Hmm," Joey sighed. It wasn't that he didn't trust Alice; he did. It was the idiots she put her trust in that he didn't trust.

"Right then, let's go," Lauren urged, taking Joey's hand without really thinking about it and leading him out into the hall and straight out of the front door. She had to admit that she was only partly rushing to avoid things progressing into a full blown argument between them, because part of her just wanted to not be there when Alice noticed Derek's raided drinks cabinet. Which would, incidentally, likely lead to an even bigger full-scale argument. They were all Branning's, after all, even if certain members of said family, or one in particular, had never, and never would, feel like one.

But, as before, Lauren wasn't going to think about that right now. Or ever, if she could help it.

As they made it to the gate Joey tugged on her hand slightly, pulling her to a standstill. It wasn't until that moment that Lauren realised she had actually still been holding it, their fingers tangled together. She couldn't help but question whether it should feel that natural...to hold hands with her cousin like that, to feel her breath hitch slightly at the feel of his warm palm against hers. It probably shouldn't. It _definitely_ shouldn't, really. She didn't know why she was surprised though; she never had been one for convention. Neither of them had.

"What's with the rush, eh?" he asked her, his question bringing her eyes back up to his. Joey wasn't sure what she was finding so interesting about their hands. He also wasn't sure why it didn't bother him that they were holding hands, and why he didn't want to let go. Maybe he would put it down to the wine.

"Honestly, Joe," she said to him, brushing her hair over shoulder with her free hand. "Do you really want to be there when Alice flips out because we've been _disrespectful_ again?"

Joey shrugged causing Lauren to sigh, a small, slightly withering smile on her face. Typical. Of course he wouldn't be bothered by that whatsoever.

"Well, whatever," she continued, finally dropping his hand and linking her arm through his instead, her hand gripping his bicep lightly as they started to walk again. She could've walked unassisted, obviously; she may not have known where the line between her and Joey was, but she _did_ know where the line between drunk and too-drunk was, and she was nowhere near it. But for safety reasons it was best to walk like this. Obviously. "And by the way, I wouldn't worry about her watching a film with Tam, Joe. He's like the nicest guy in Walford; he's not gonna hurt her."

Joey stopped them again, looking down at her in mock offence. At first Lauren thought she had touched a nerve, but the humour in his eyes told her otherwise.

"The nicest guy _apart from you_ is what I meant, obviously…" she corrected herself, scrunching her nose up slightly at him as he smirked down at her. For one, absurd second Joey had the strangest urge to lean down and press a kiss to her nose, but he resisted it. The wine was definitely messing with his head. And his emotions.

"Much better," he murmured, grinning at her before pulling her forwards again, wrapping his arm around her shoulders this time as he pushed his confused and confusing thoughts to the back of his mind, hoping they would stay there.

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They made it to the club and found that the others had only just arrived themselves. Joey spotted Tyler at the bar who waved them over. With it being a Friday the club was at its busiest, causing Joey to be glad that he hadn't been on the rota for that night. The downside, however, was that it was harder than ever to actually _move_ in there. Lauren allowed Joey to lead them through the crowd, keeping close into his side, still clinging onto his arm like it was a lifeline.

Finally reaching the bar, Joey clapped hands with Tyler whilst Whitney pulled Lauren into a hug, squealing excitedly; apparently the shock of her engagement still hadn't _quite_ worn off.

"Glad you both made it," Whitney told her, smiling hugely at both Lauren and Joey. "Lucy here was under the impression you'd done a runner, Lauren."

"I told her I would catch you all up," she replied, raising her eyebrow at Lucy who merely shrugged, turning her head a little huffily; clearly she hadn't taken lightly to the fact that she had been ditched for Joey, understandably, Lauren supposed. "Anyway you can't get rid of me that easily can you, eh?"

"What do want to drink, ladies?" Tyler interrupted them. It seemed that Joey had managed to jump the "queue" a little, having gained the attention of one of his workmates who was now waiting to serve them.

Whilst Whitney and Lucy gave their order to Tyler, Lauren turned to Joey who spoke before she could.

"You want your usual, babe?" Joey knew that, nine times out of ten, Lauren never strayed from her vodka and coke order. She pondered for a second; unsure if that was what she wanted this time, however. Vodka after wine didn't sound like a good idea to her, or to Joey for that matter, who was surprised but relieved that she seemed to be thinking it through.

As she was thinking, the crowd seemed to surge forwards slightly behind her, causing someone to bump into her with quite some force and knock her off balance again. Before she could fall, however, she felt Joey suddenly wind his arm firmly around her waist and pull her into him so that she was now stood in front of him at the bar, his body acting as a very effective barrier to any more unwanted bumps. He wasn't sure what made him do it; he could've just steadied her and left it at that. But instead he took the opportunity to bring her right up in front of him, his shoulders almost caged over her much smaller ones, his arm still tight around her waist. Why didn't this feel wrong, he wondered? Surely it should've done…

Recovering from the shock, Lauren tried to return her focus to choosing a drink and pull it away from how much she very much liked the feel of Joey's muscular body behind hers, his hand at her waist, the material of her dress thin enough that she could feel the warmth of his arm against her. She felt him lean down slightly, his lips appearing to not be far from her ear.

"You alright?" he asked her.

She nodded, glancing sideways slightly and immediately catching Lucy's eye who had apparently witnessed some of, if not the whole of, the exchange, her gaze hawk-like as it switched between Lauren's face to Joey's arm around her waist. Lauren cleared her throat nervously, her fingers stroking against his arm softly, letting him know that he could let go now, which he did, both of his arms now resting against the bar either side of her body. She didn't know why she felt nervous because of Lucy; there was nothing untoward going on, not really anyway. He was just being a good friend to her, right? Lucy was just jumping to conclusions, or was very close to jumping to them anyway. It didn't mean anything more to either of them…right?

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lauren told him after a prolonged pause, dropping Lucy's gaze and turning towards Joey, tilting her head upwards slightly as she spoke. "And…surprise me."

"What?" he said, confused as to what she meant; he had been too busy wondering why he had immediately missed the feel of holding her in his arms. Because that wasn't right, was it? He had hugged her many times before and never really struggled with the letting go part of things. What was going on tonight? Why was everything different?

"I don't want my usual," Lauren explained, tapping her index finger against the drinks menu in front of her. "I want something…different. So surprise me."

Joey nodded, barely noticing as Whitney finally turned round and reclaimed Lauren's attention, coaxing her out of the cage Joey's arms had created round her and leading her over to the booths at the back of the club, leaving the two boys to deal with the drinks.

Lauren wanted something different… Wasn't the atmosphere between them different enough without mixing other stuff up as well?

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On the way to the booths, Lucy veered off to the toilets, leaving Lauren and Whitney to select one by themselves. Settling for the quietest one in the back corner, Whitney struck up a conversation about her forthcoming wedding. It wasn't Lauren's favourite topic, but at least it took her mind off the ever-blurring lines between herself and Joey.

"So, yeah, I doubt Ryan will turn up, but it's worth a shot and…" Whitney stopped talking, narrowing her eyes to Lauren's right where a tall guy slid into the booth beside her, staring across the table, leering slightly. "Can we help you?"

"You can dance with me, darlin'," he slurred, flashing a grin at Whitney which he clearly thought was charming, but actually just made him look a bit deranged in Lauren's opinion.

"I'll pass, thanks," Whitney replied before lifting her left hand and waggling her fingers at him, showing off her engagement ring. "Plus, I'm engaged…not that I would dance with you otherwise," she muttered under her breath, causing Lauren to smirk slightly.

"What about you, gorgeous?" the guy slurred again, turning to Lauren and leering at her. "Are you gonna come and dance or are you _engaged _as well?" Clearly he had taken Whitney's genuine explanation as an excuse.

"No thanks," Lauren told him, trying her hardest to keep the disgust out of her voice.

"Oh, c'mon," he continued, reaching over and grabbing her arm which she immediately snatched out of his grasp.

"I said _no_," she seethed at him. Would it be too much to ask just to have _one_ night out where she didn't get some creep who doesn't understand the word 'no' trying to get too close for comfort? Apparently so. "And don't touch me. Ever."

"You didn't put that dress on just to sit around all night," the guy told her, leaning in so close she could feel his breath against her neck. It made her feel sick. "You sure you don't want me to show you a good time?"

Before Lauren could respond she was distracted by the looming figures of Joey and Tyler who had returned from the bar, neither of them looking very impressed at the new 'friend' herself and Whitney had attracted. She felt Creepy Guy move away from her; clearly not as stupid as he looked. Not that it took a genius to see that, compared to Joey and Tyler, he stood no chance should it come to blows.

"She sounded pretty clear to me," Joey snarled at him. Lauren could tell he was only_ just_ containing his anger. "But I could make it clearer for you, if you like."

Finally taking his cue to leave, the guy got up and slinked away, tail between his legs. Both Joey and Tyler continued to glare after him for a few moments, only sitting down after much coaxing from the two girls. Having pulled him into the seat next to her, Lauren reached over and placed her hand over Joey's still-clenched fist where it lay against the tabletop, slightly relieved that she wouldn't be cleaning it up for the second time that day.

"Told you I don't half attract them!" she told him, laughing slightly as she tried to lighten the mood. Because of the loud music she had leant in close to him, and it took a lot of self-restraint to resist the bizarre urge to lay her head against his broad shoulder for a moment. "Thank you, by the way."

"No problem," he told her, his voice still a bit strained. He turned his face towards hers, his eyes searching hers for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she assured him, smiling to prove it. "Honestly. It's nothing that hasn't happened before, like I told you." The difference this time, however, was that she had Joey there, his presence definitely easing the pain of being a weirdo-magnet. Easing the pain…or just distracting her from it. Same difference, really.

Joey could see the honesty in her eyes and nodded, pleased that her mood hadn't been ruined by the scumbag. The last thing he wanted was for her to end up in tears again over someone like _that_. The problem was that she was too attractive for her own good. As he thought this, a small voice in the back of his head pointed out that she was also too attractive for _his_ own good too. But he silenced that voice immediately. It was clearly just the wine talking.

"So, what did you bring me?" Lauren asked suddenly, tearing her eyes from Joey's and removing her hand from his before Whitney and Tyler could start asking questions too. She pulled her drink towards her appreciatively, stirring the umbrella into the pale lilac cocktail.

"A surprise," he replied, grinning at her, a teasing glint in his eyes. She returned his smile, lifting the glass to her lips and taking a tentative sip, immediately liking the taste of it, a small moan escaping her. Lauren could swear Joey's eyes turned darker as he watched her, but she was probably just imagining things. Fortunately, Whitney chose that moment to return to her conversation before Lauren could start over-thinking things again. Which was probably for the best, really, Lauren was sure.

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When Lucy returned from the toilets Lauren was relieved that she appeared to have forgotten her possible suspicions from before. This wasn't such good news for Joey, however, as she turned her attention back to him, cleverly having chosen to squeeze onto the booth next to him rather than choose the other side where there was more room.

At first, the group conversation was enough to keep Lucy at bay, however the conversation lulled slightly as Whitney left for the loos, and she leapt at her opportunity, shuffling right up to Joey and attempting to strike up a conversation, simpering at him embarrassingly. Clearly she hadn't listened to a word of Lauren's advice earlier that evening.

"I'm gonna go to the bar; I want some water," Lauren announced unnecessarily loudly, cutting across Lucy as she did so. She felt bad for her, she really did. But she had promised to save him from her, and she would keep her word. "Can you come with me, please, Joe?"

"Sure, babe," Joey nodded, looking at her gratefully as she stood and began to shuffle out of the booth. Rather than wait until Joey got out first, she attempted to clamber past him, a manoeuvre which turned out to be a very bad idea in high heels as she tripped slightly. Joey's hands went straight to her waist, stopping her from falling and smirking at her as he did so. Lauren rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't keep the blush off her cheeks at the feel of his hands against her waist yet again. He may have steadied her balance, but he had very much messed up the equilibrium of her emotions, yet again. Honestly, what had been in that wine?

"Typical," she choked, laughing a little fraudulently, because _nothing_ about this situation was typical. Joey's hands left her waist and she continued her progress out of the booth, glancing round at him and smiling quickly as he followed her. As she did so she noticed Whitney return to the booth, effectively distracting Lucy from looking forlorn, her eyes darting between her and Joey yet again.

"Thanks," he mumbled to her once they were at the bar, his lips by her ear, his breath hot on her neck. Lauren gave him a weak smile, trying to stop her emotions from going into overdrive. Why was she so _aware_ of him all of a sudden?

"No problem," she replied. "We toasted to saving each other, right? Listen, I'm gonna nip to the loo whilst I'm up, I'll meet you back here in a sec."

Without waiting for a reply, Lauren turned on the spot and made a beeline for the toilets, hoping that a small reprieve from Joey's presence might just help her collect herself, help her feel like a normal person again.

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Finishing up in the toilets, Lauren made her way back into the club. She scanned around to the booths at the back where she could just about make out Whitney, Tyler and Lucy, thankfully, in the midst of conversation. Turning away from them, she quickly located Joey still at the bar, exactly where she had left him...but not exactly _how_ she had left him.

Pushing her way through the crowd, Lauren saw that her place next to Joey at the bar had been taken by an unknown redhead in a ridiculously low-cut dress. This girl was giving Lucy a run for her money, clearly. For a second, she felt irrational jealousy course through her, stinging as it did so, before she caught Joey's eye again and watched him mouth the word 'help' to her.

Lauren smirked, sauntering over to him, the wine they had drank earlier apparently still working its magic on her confidence, or maybe it was her stupidity...she wasn't sure. She thought she saw Joey's eyes scan up and down her body appreciatively as she neared him, not paying one iota of attention to the girl beside him. But that wasn't right was it?

Joey wasn't sure he understood the situation either. Normally the girl in front of him would have been exactly his type. It should have come as second nature to flirt back with her, like it usually did. And yet the whole time she had been talking to him, or maybe it was _at_ him, his brain had been focused on Lauren. This girl's features, although generically pretty, were, in his opinion, nothing on Lauren's. And as he noticed her walking back over to him, her hips swaying in that ridiculously tight dress, and a devilish smirk on her lips, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of attraction and fear...fear of whatever she was planning in that head of hers. Just how strong had that wine been before, he wondered?

Lauren was only steps from him now. His eyes were still fixed on hers, a strange sense of anticipation in the air. She felt like he was challenging her, or maybe she was challenging herself. They both liked a challenge, after all. Or maybe it was just the wine. She didn't really feel drunk though, so that didn't make sense.

As Lauren pondered this, the dense crowd around the bar slowing her progress forwards, the redhead reached over and placed her hand against Joey's forearm, apparently laughing at her own joke which Joey hadn't even reacted to. A wave of jealously washed over Lauren. She didn't want anyone else to touch his arms, nevermind this bimbo. Lauren shook her head slightly, questioning whether she was indeed drunk in reality. Getting possessive over her friend's arms wasn't something she generally did when sober, was it?

Regardless as to whether she was drunk or not, Lauren pushed her attention towards the fact that Joey had asked her for help. Help that she had promised to give him, albeit help that had been in terms of fighting back Lucy's determined advances. But whatever. Help was help. And Lauren only knew one sure-fire way to shoot down the unwanted affections of another female….

Public displays of affection. Of the intimate kind.

But she couldn't really do that, could she? Joey was her cousin. They were related. And yet the thought of doing what she wanted to do didn't repulse her like perhaps it should have done. And besides, what advice had she given Joey before? If you're going to do something wrong, do it right. Well, this would certainly be the definition of that, in her opinion.

Joey's eyes followed hers as she weaved her way through the mass of people around them, finally making it close to him. He couldn't read the expression on her face, but he could tell she was concentrating on something from the blazing look in her eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her, intrigued as to what she was planning.

Having finally noticed the intense, silent exchange between the target of her affections and Lauren, the redhead turned her head, a scowl forming on her face. Apparently this was all the encouragement Lauren needed though; a rush of untameable determination coursing through her. Her plan was barely a plan, but she was going to do it anyway.

After a brief moment of hesitation Lauren stole herself, took a deep breath, and finally closed the gap between herself and Joey.

"Sorry I was so long, baby," she purred, unceremoniously shoving Big Red out of the way as she pressed herself against him, trying to not shudder at how solid his body was. Lauren knew that if she was going to pull this off, she couldn't act like this was the first time she had ever touched him like this. She wound her arms around his neck, looking him straight in the eye and smirking confidently at him as if this was completely normal behaviour. "I promise I'll make it up to you later, yeah?"

And without missing a heartbeat, throwing complete caution to the wind, she crushed her lips to his, probably more enthusiastically than she needed to. But like she had said, if she was going to do something wrong, she'd better to it right. This probably hadn't been what Joey had been expecting, she granted, but there was no backing out now.

Lines and convention be damned. She had wanted something different, and she was certainly going to get it…

**A/n:**** So if the lines weren't blurry before...they definitely will be now! The question is, how will Joey react? **

**Thank you for the reviews from Part One - I'm so pleased it went down so well. I replied to the signed ones, but to the Guest reviewers I can't reply to: thank you so much! :)**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you tomorrow for Part Three. x**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n: How's Joey going to react to that unexpected kiss? Let's find out...**

Chapter 3

For a few seconds Joey didn't react, his warm lips unyielding against hers, shock at her bold move freezing him to the spot. The shock evaporated quickly though, and acting off impulse, he wound his arms slowly around her waist, pulling her flush against him and reciprocating the kiss with vigour. It should have felt awkward, strange, revolting even; that's what most people would likely say it was, if they knew they were related. But in that moment, and not just for the sake of the redhead who had clearly rubbed Lauren up the wrong way, they were just too people who were finally kissing the way they had wanted to for a long time, whether they had realised it or not.

Lauren felt Joey's tongue slide against her top lip, looking for entrance into her mouth, which she granted enthusiastically, moaning softly at the sensation. His hands which had been splayed against her back moved; one now gripping her waist with delicious pressure, the other coming up to cup the back of her neck, supporting her head as he tilted it back slightly, deepening the kiss as he did so.

It didn't matter that they were in public…at a bar…in a club where there was a very good chance that several of their friends might see them. It didn't matter because they didn't care. The kiss might've been initiated on a whim, but neither of them could have anticipated how affected they would be by it, how caught-up they would become. They had both had their fair share of experience, and it had definitely never felt like this before. Joey didn't always care for kissing all that much; to him it was usually just the start of the show, and he preferred the ending, if he was being honest. But if this was what kissing Lauren felt like, then he would happily do it all day every day.

Lauren's fingers scratched lightly at the short hair at the back of Joey's neck, earning a soft groan from him, his arms tightening, if possible, around her. The sound of his groan, however, as much as she liked that it was her that had caused it, jolted her back to her senses slightly. She tore her lips from his, immediately regretting the decision, but sticking with it if not only for the fact that she was desperately lacking oxygen. Joey's forehead fell to hers briefly as they both gasped for air, his hands sliding back to her waist.

"Not that I mind, but what are you doing?" Joey asked her after a moment, his lips at her ear, his voice slightly raspy. He grinned at the way she shivered. Pulling back slightly, his eyes strayed automatically to her lips, and he found himself immediately wanting to kiss her again. He couldn't deny that he had actually imagined kissing her like this many times before now, always scolding himself afterwards due to the inappropriateness. A small part of him had hoped that one _real_ kiss would assuage the wonder and he would realise that these emotions he thought he felt for his cousin, his best friend really, were not really what they seemed; that they were artificial, just a weird but very persistent fantasy.

But they weren't. Clearly. Because even though he had no idea what was going on, and even though he had been taken by surprise, he hadn't wanted it to end. He could still taste her on his tongue, for god's sake. He wanted more. He _shouldn't_, but he did.

"I have no idea," she whispered to him, her hands sliding from around his neck as she bit her lip subconsciously, the full scale of what she had just done hitting home. Had she actually just initiated a kiss with her cousin?! A kiss she had secretly dreamed about for a long time now. A kiss that she never actually thought would happen, so it wouldn't matter that she had thought about it. A kiss that, now it had happened, she never wanted to stop happening. "I don't know what I was thinking… I _wasn't_ thinking…"

Joey watched as her cheeks reddened, a thousand and one emotions in her eyes as she stared up at him. She looked flustered, and worried, and breathless…and beautiful. Moving one hand from her waist, he reached down and took one of her hands in his, entwining their fingers and squeezing softly, hoping to give her some kind of reassurance that she didn't need to worry…which wasn't necessary true. This was completely unknown territory; worrying would be understandable.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, embarrassment and self-doubt creeping into her eyes. She was still having trouble coming to terms with what she had just done...if she ever did manage come to terms with it she would be impressed, to be honest. Joey shook his head at her, smiling softly.

"Don't be," he told her, squeezing her fingers again. "I'm not."

Lauren dropped his gaze, her eyes finding their joined hands. The sound of the music and mass of people around them suddenly seemed incredibly loud in her ears, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She couldn't stop thinking about the kiss, replaying it in her head, wanting to repeat it more each time. But she couldn't. They were _cousins_. It was stupid of her to have done what she did; to have taunted her emotions like that, to have played with her heart like that. He had said he wasn't sorry, but how could he not be? She had just ruined their friendship hadn't she?

"I-I think I'm gonna go and get some air…" she told him, pulling her hand from his and turning away from him. She didn't wait for a response; pushing through the crowd in a sort of daze. Her senses were all messed up. And why were her lips still tingling from that kiss? Why did she _still_ want to do it again?

The fresh air hit her and she breathed in deeply, welcoming the coldness as it cleared her head a little. Leaning back against the wall of the club, she closed her eyes momentarily, sighing when behind her eyelids all she could see was Joey's face inches from hers, leaning in to kiss her again, anticipation coursing through her veins.

"Ugh," she groaned, covering her face with her hands, feeling more frustrated than she ever had. What had she started?! From now on she would make no more decisions. She might even do as her dad told her...or just never leave the house. That way her common sense couldn't be hijacked by her overactive imagination and she wouldn't end up locking lips with her unbearably attractive cousin/best friend.

"We can just pretend it never happened if you want to." Joey's voice made her jump, soft-spoken as he had been; she hadn't realised he had followed her outside. She peeked at him shyly and was surprised to see that he looked…sad. Confusion, or even anger, she had expected, but not sadness. It only made her feel worse.

"I'm so sorry, Joe," she told him, humiliation clear in her tone. Joey reached forwards and pulled her hands away from her face, threading his fingers through hers and holding her gaze.

"Will you stop being such a drama queen and stop bloody apologising," he told her, swinging their hands between them. Joey wasn't sure what exactly she was apologising for; the kiss, the fact that she had instigated the kiss, or the fact that she regretted it. Either way, he didn't want her apologies; he didn't regret it. Their kiss had actually answered a lot of questions for him, even if it _had_ created a thousand more. "We can just forget all about it, if you really want to."

Joey didn't want to forget all about it though, didn't want _her_ to want to forget all about it for that matter. And in all honesty, he doubted he would ever be able to forget about it. No one could simply erase a kiss that good from their memory, no matter who it was with, and Joey wasn't about to try. But if Lauren wanted to forget it, class it under the 'stupid things I've done under the influence of alcohol' file, he would let her. He wouldn't hold it against her. He would just have to hope that as she brushed the memory under the rug, she wouldn't brush him under it too.

Because he needed her in his life.

"That's just it though, isn't it?" she said, looking up at him with wide eyes, the expression on her face breaking his heart a little. "I _don't_ want to forget all about it."

Joey digested her words for a moment, letting it sink in that she wasn't upset for the reasons he had thought she was. She didn't want to forget about it. She didn't regret it. She was in the same boat as him.

"So…" Joey hesitated for a moment. He wasn't used to feeling quite so unsure of himself. Then again, he wasn't used to doing this – whatever _this_ was - with a girl who meant as much to him as Lauren did. He wasn't used to there being so much at stake. He took a slow step towards her, keeping hold of her hands. She looked up at him, a question clear in her eyes.

"So?" she asked softly. He wasn't reacting the way she expected him to. He very rarely did, to be honest. Why wasn't he annoyed with her? He moved closer still, his body close enough to her now that she could feel the heat radiating from him. The urge to pull him against her and kiss him again returned, but she resisted it; she had got herself into enough trouble tonight.

"So," Joey repeated, holding her gaze as he let go of one of her hands and reached up to cup her face gently, his fingers just barely grazing her skin. "If you don't want to forget it," he leaned in even closer and Lauren's breath hitched, his face level with hers now, "does that mean it would be okay if," his eyes were smouldering, she couldn't have looked away if she wanted to, "I did this?"

There was a second of lingering anticipation, each of them gauging the other's reaction, before Joey closed the gap between them, pressing his lips against hers softly at first, then more passionately as he felt her react, moaning into the kiss.

Letting go of her other hand, he gripped her waist again as her arms wound around his neck, pulling him closer to her. Lauren couldn't help but moan into the kiss as she felt his tongue battle with hers, because damn it did he know how to kiss and do it well.

She could barely think straight anymore. All she could concentrate on was Joey. His lips, his hands, the way his body was moulded into hers, pushing her back against the wall with just enough pressure that it felt _amazing._

Weren't they supposed to _not_ be doing this though? This had just been her silly, little, slightly-drunken plan to get that bitch to let go of him. She had never really expected him to reciprocate. Except _he_ had initiated things this time…so maybe he _did_ want this as much as she did. Maybe she hadn't been reading the signs wrong after all. And besides, it would be rude to stop such a good kiss really, wouldn't it?

But still…what if this ruined everything?

"Wait," Lauren gasped, pulling her lips from his and cupping his face as she looked at him. "What are we doing?"

Joey raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes in return, trying to ignore how distracting the feel of his hands at her waist was. He wasn't even doing anything; they were just resting there, and yet she was ridiculously aware of them.

"I mean, we don't do this," she clarified, expressing through her gaze some of the fear she felt at what this would do to their friendship. Her hands left his face as her arms wound around his shoulders again. She could very easily get used to this, she decided. "We _can't_ do this. We shouldn't do this…"

Joey moved one of his hands from Lauren's waist and reached up, stroking his thumb across her cheek softly. Her lips were swollen and her eyes seemed darker than usual and Joey liked that it was him that had done that to her. He liked it a lot.

How had they gone from simply drinking Derek's wine as a petty, but effective, form of revenge, to _this_?! And even more importantly, why did it feel right that they had ended up here? Why did feel like this should have happened ages ago?

His eyes never leaving hers, Joey moved his fingers across her cheek again, slowly pushing her hair away from her face as he did so until, and without really knowing _why_ he was doing it, he was tucking it behind her ear. Lauren shuddered again, completely frozen in the intensity of the moment. He continued to trail his fingers down her neck, confused and fascinated as to why such a simple gesture seemed to have instigated such a strong reaction in him.

"If we shouldn't be doing this," Joey said at long last, his nose brushing against hers as he moved in closer to her again. "Why do I not want to stop?"

Lauren pushed her fingers through his short hair, feeling like she was melting under his gaze. How could just a _look_ be doing…_things_ to her that a look had certainly never done to her before? His lips brushed against hers again briefly, teasingly, before he reclaimed her gaze. She bit her lip, just about resisting the temptation to squirm against him. His words were echoing in her head. _He didn't want to stop_. But they had to, didn't they?

"What are you thinking, babe?" Joey asked her, a tiny hint of impatience in his gravelly voice. He placed the pad of his thumb against her bottom lip and pulled down slightly until she let go, his eyes straying from hers to her lips, then back again.

"I don't want to stop either," she admitted in a hushed, shy tone, almost as though she was telling him a huge secret. Which, in a way, she kind of was.

They watched each other for a minute, both of them very aware that they were on the verge of making a very big decision here. Not stopping here had the potential to be the make or break of everything. Or, less dramatically, of life as they knew it; their friendship, their family, just…_them_. So...still pretty dramatic.

"What now then?" Joey asked her softly. He knew what _he_ wanted to happen next, and thought, _hoped_, he knew what she wanted too. But he wasn't going to push her for fear of finally treading that elusive line between them and hurting her. She was going to have to tell him what she wanted, she was going to have to lead this to a certain extent.

"I…" Lauren closed her eyes for a second. There wasn't a shred of doubt in her mind that she knew what she wanted to happen next, but being completely sure didn't stop her from being incredibly nervous. Opening her eyes, she looked into his and inhaled deeply, trying to remind herself that this was _Joey_. Joey who made her feel happy and safe and…loved? Were they throwing all of that away if they did this? Or were they strengthening it? "I don't want to go back inside…"

"Okay," he replied, trying to decide how best to go on from here. He noticed she looked even more nervous as she spoke and he reached up and cupped her cheek tenderly; they weren't going to do this if she didn't want to. Lauren tilted her head to the side and kissed his palm softly, Joey's gesture having calmed her a little. "Do you want to go home?" he questioned, keeping his tone as unequivocal as before. He didn't want to take her home, but he would take her if she wanted to, if she wanted to back out of this now, before it went too far.

Lauren shook her head, smiling timidly at him, although Joey could see that his bold, beautiful Lauren wasn't far beneath the surface; they wouldn't have ended up _here_ if she wasn't.

"Do you want to come back to mine?" His tone wavered slightly this time; he didn't understand how he had never realised just how much he wanted this before, wanted to be with her, his Lauren. And not just like this; not just in terms of sex, if that was indeed where this was headed. But all the time.

"Yes," she breathed after a long pause, a smidgen of the determination she felt earlier returning to her, bringing a little bit of consciousness with it. "But what about the others? We can't just…leave, can we?"

Surely they would want to know what was going on. Although, as Lauren thought this, she realised that they didn't have to tell them _exactly_ what was going on. In fact, it was probably best that they didn't do that.

"We weren't supposed to be doing _this_," Joey pointed out, rubbing his hands slowly up and down her sides and causing her to shiver slightly. "And yet here we are…"

"Yeah…" Lauren agreed, a laugh behind her voice. Joey raised his eyebrow at her, the dimples appearing on his face as he returned her smile. "Here we are," she repeated, giggling properly this time, partly because she couldn't believe they had ended up in this situation, and partly because she was starting to feel a bit giddy that they _were_ in said situation. She wasn't even going to blame the wine anymore; it was definitely Joey having this effect on her.

Leaning forward slightly, she rested her forehead against his chest, the laughter dying down. Joey's hands slid from her waist her to her back, slipping under her jacket as he ran them comfortingly over her dress. As he did so, another strange urge to lean down and kiss her came over him, except that this time he didn't resist it; pressing a kiss to the top of her head, his lips lingering for a few moments, savouring the feel of having her in his arms.

After a minute, Lauren lifted her head and looked up at him, searching his gaze…for what she wasn't really sure. Reassurance, perhaps. Joey decided that if they were going to do this, there was no point rushing it, so he settled on his next move rather confidently.

"How about this," he began, lifting her chin with his finger when she had started to look away. "We go back to my place, but nothing has to happen, yeah? We'll just…see how it goes. Does that sound okay to you?"

Lauren pondered this for a minute, her fingers curling around the collar of his shirt. His words had had the desired effect; she felt instantly calmer, if not just for the fact that some of the pressure had been taken off, then for the fact that Joey was making it clear that, either way, whatever happened, they were going to be okay…hopefully.

"Okay," she replied, her heart jumping as he leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. She moved her face to the left before he could pull away properly and captured his lips with hers. It was only for a moment, but it felt like the most significant thing in the world, a thrill of anticipation coursing through her again.

They were, it seemed, about to finally find out if there actually was a line between them, metaphorical or otherwise...

**A/n:**** Feel a tiny bit mean cutting away there...but not mean enough to change my mind and make it all one ginormous chapter. ;)**

**Has the wine done them a favour and made them finally act on how they feel about each other...or will they panic and find that they've crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed?**

**Thank you so much to those of you who took the time to leave me a review - I appreciate it so much. I replied to the signed ones, so, once again, if you're a Guest reader/reviewer, consider this your thank you. :) **

**See you tomorrow for the final part! x**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n:**** To blur or not to blur the lines...that is the question...**

Chapter 4

Lauren made their excuses via text, claiming that she wasn't feeling too good and that Joey was going to walk her home. It wasn't a completely out of the blue phenomenon; Joey had walked her home many times before now. Plus, it wasn't a _complete_ lie; she had felt a certain amount of…dizziness and weakness at the knees over the last half hour or so. She would probably get called for ditching them, but whatever, she had more important things to think about.

They made it back to the house and were relieved to see that nobody else was in; Alice was obviously still at Tamwar's and Derek, like Alice had said, was obviously not coming back till the next day. Joey opened the door and let Lauren walk through first, much like he had done earlier on; neither of them could have guessed at that point that the evening would have progressed how it had done. The plan had been saving each other and revenge…not blurring every line under the sun.

"Do you want a drink?" Joey asked her, breaking a brief, almost-uncomfortable silence as they came to a standstill in the living room. He studied Lauren's face as she turned to him. He wished she would stop biting her lip because it was_ very_ distracting. He was trying to let her lead the way still, but it wasn't easy when she kept doing things like this… It made him just want to close the gap between them and kiss her how she had kissed him in the club…a damn the consequences kind of kiss.

"No, thanks," she replied, wringing her fingers somewhat agitatedly. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. She felt like she was on a rollercoaster, fluctuating between feeling confident and determined, and being terrified and self-conscious. Perhaps this situation would've been easier to navigate had they not drank the wine before…or perhaps it would've been ten times more difficult.

"You okay?" he asked, taking a step towards her and taking her hands in his, stilling their movement. She nodded in response, smiling at him half-heartedly. She, like him, was struggling with being torn between wanting to resume their kiss from before, and wanting to stay safe on this side of the knife edge, not risk anything.

"Y'know, I think I will just go and get a drink," Lauren decided after a second, needing a minute to herself to get her head straight. "Especially as I never actually got my water before…" She smiled a little at this and felt the tense atmosphere between them dissolve slightly as he returned her smile with a cheeky one of his own.

Joey nodded, reaching up and slowly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear for the second time that night. Just like before, he wasn't quite sure what made him do it, but he knew he wanted to be able to do it again. Lauren leaned into his touch slightly, quickly becoming a little bit mesmerised by the look in his eyes again.

"I thought you wanted a drink?" Joey said after a minute, a smirk dancing at his lips. Lauren cleared her throat and stepped back, not having realised how close they had gotten. She wouldn't blame the wine, but she _would_ blame those godforsaken dimples…

"Yeah…" she mumbled, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Yeah, I do."

With one last, hesitant look at him, she turned and made her way into the kitchen, desperately trying to resist the urge to run. She was being ridiculous, she was aware; she _wanted_ this to happen, and had fallen into bed with much less fuss with guys she barely knew and wasn't that bothered about. But then that was the problem, wasn't it? She _was_ bothered this time. They both were.

It wasn't until she heard the kitchen door open that Lauren realised how long she had been stood, staring blankly out of the kitchen window into the pitch-black garden. She felt Joey come up behind her and wrap his arms around her, pulling her back flush against his warm chest. She couldn't help but sigh as strange feeling of contentment spread through her. Resting her arms atop of his, she leaned her head back against his shoulder.

"I meant what I said, babe," Joey murmured, his fingers stroking against her stomach lightly. "Nothing has to happen." He felt her nod and tilt her head to the side slightly. Without thinking, he pressed a kiss to the side of her forehead. "I want this to happen," he told her. "But only if you do too."

"Mm hm," she replied, turning slowly in his arms and resting her forearms against his chest, her fingers finding his collar again. She tilted her head slightly and looked into his eyes. This was _Joey_, she reminded herself yet again. She could be honest with him, and if they were going to do this, it had to be honest. "I want to…but I'm scared, Joe. I'm scared this will change things between us."

"Well…" Joey began, "It probably will, won't it?"

"Wouldn't that be a bad thing though?" she asked, scared of the answer. They would be putting so much on the line. They would be taking unconventional to the next level. They would be blurring so many lines. She didn't need to spell it out for Joey; she could see from the look in his eyes that he was thinking the same thing.

"It doesn't have to be a bad thing," he bargained, brushing his thumb over her cheek. Joey wasn't sure how he was managing to be so rational about this, especially as, inside, he was as scared as she was. The thing was, they say you can't miss what you never had, but now that the possibility of being with Lauren - properly being with her, not just sex - had been dangled in front of him, he felt like he couldn't let it go, like he already missed it.

It was ironic that a plot that had been devised to _distract_ him from something had opened his eyes to what he really wanted.

"But Joe," she breathed, her eyes closing briefly and her heart skipping a beat as he pressed a kiss just below her eyelids. Who knew he could be so sweet? And why, for the billionth time, did it feel so natural for them to be like this? It was almost hard to comprehend that they hadn't always been like this with each other. "If we do this…I can't... It can't just be a one-time thing. Not for us."

"Is that what you think this is?" Joey asked. He couldn't lie that he felt a little stung that she thought he could treat her like that, use her like that. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, considering his previous…reputation. But surely she knew she meant so much more to him than that…?

"I don't really know _what_ to think, Joe…" She trailed off, her fingers connecting at the back of his neck. "I mean, this all started as a way to get that redhead bitch in a dress three sizes too small for her to get her hands off you..."

Joey laughed at this, pleased that his feisty Lauren had made her grand return. She shrugged, unabashed by her feelings towards the girl on the club.

"I thought this started as a plot for revenge…" he joked, his eyes twinkling.

"I think we both know this started a long time before tonight, don't you?" he murmured, his gaze turning serious.

There was no point either of them denying it anymore, to themselves or to each other. They had clicked as soon as they met, and had only got closer ever since. They trusted each other, even though they tended to trust no one. They understood each other, even though they tended to be the forever-misunderstood ones of the family. They…_loved_ each other…and not just in the way they originally thought.

And that kiss before…it may not have been based on the most romantic circumstances -there may have been wine involved somewhere along the way, irrational jealousy…and just pure lack of conscience - but it was the final piece of the puzzle…and it was never just going to stop there for either of them.

"You mean so much to me, Lo," he breathed, slowly tucking her hair behind her ear for the third time. He had never done it before tonight, but he suspected it was going to become a sort of signature move for him. It would be their thing. Hopefully. He noticed a slight frown on Lauren's face and felt the very foreign, for Joey, emotion of self-doubt flood into his mind. "What's up?"

"You called me 'Lo'"," she explained, wonder in her tone. "You've never called me that before." Joey breathed a sigh of relief and raised his eyebrow at her. He didn't know where he got new nickname came from, but, much like the hair-tucking thing, he figured he might keep on using it. "I liked it," she admitted.

"Good," he mumbled. The small smile on her face had led his eyes back to her lips, the overpowering urge to kiss her again returning with vengeance. How he had gone two years spending time with her that didn't involve kissing…he would never know, and never forgive himself for.

"Joe?" Lauren asked, her voice bringing his gaze back up to her eyes. "What about everyone else though?"

"What about them?" he responded, his mind still on that kiss from before.

"Well, if we're gonna do this properly…and we are, aren't we…?" she added, panicking suddenly that she had the wrong end of the stick after all.

"Yes," he murmured softly, nodding softly, his fingers trailing down her arm until they reached her hand, entwining their fingers together. Lauren's heart leapt again. She was going to end up with a heart condition if this carried on…

"Well, I mean, people aren't going to be okay about this, are they?" she stuttered slightly, the thought of how her family would react to her and Joey being in a relationship was putting the fear of God into her. _Someone_ would end up with a heart condition, if not her, that was for sure… That is of course if her dad hasn't ripped her heart right out by that point. "I mean…we're, y'know…cousins."

Joey sighed; one of them was going to have to mention the elephant in the room at some point, weren't they? The same applied as before though: they had never, and never would, feel like cousins. They didn't grow up together, they didn't even _know_ each other really, and their relationship had been built on friendship, not on familial ties.

"Honestly?" Joey said, resting his forehead against hers, both of them closing their eyes under sensation. "I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks. This is about me and you, not us and them."

"What if you change your mind?" Lauren asked, voicing her worst fear. A fear in which she would lose the closest person to her, in more ways than one.

"Not likely, Lo," he whispered, before pulling back to look at her. "Are you gonna change your mind?"

She shook her head no, biting her lip again. Joey was really going to have to get used to that, otherwise he would end up insane, he was convinced.

"And do you care if other people care?" He already knew the answer to this; Lauren did the things she wanted to do whether other people wanted her to do them or not. It was yet another thing they both had in common.

"Not even a little bit," she told him, smiling slightly mischievously.

"So, now that we've established that," Joey murmured, his hands finding her waist again as she felt her back come into contact with the kitchen counter. She hadn't even been aware they had been moving. She really needed to stop being so distracted by his dimples. "Can I kiss you now?"

"I'll be very offended if you don't," she breathed after second of contemplation, mewling softly as he closed the infinitesimal gap between them, his lips moving skilfully against hers.

It didn't take long for the pressure they built up before to return; their kisses becoming more desperate as they grappled to get closer to each other. Lauren's jacket had fast been removed, giving Joey much more room to run his hands over her body, teasing her as he did so. Lauren returned the favour by making short work of the buttons on his shirt, her fingers sliding over his skin as she pushed the material off his shoulders, revealing to her the torso that had been the star of her dreams for a long time now, there for the taking.

It wasn't until she felt Joey's fingers find the zip of her dress that a small, rational voice in the back of her mind forced her to remember that they were in Joey's kitchen and that Alice could return and walk in on them at any moment now.

"Upstairs," she breathed, gasping a little as his lips found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. She felt him smile against her skin, whether from her words or from her blatantly appreciative reaction to his ministrations, she didn't know. Or care…

With no time wasted, he lifted her into his arms before she was really aware of what was happening, his strength taking her by surprise as it often did. She reclaimed his lips as he carried them upstairs, her fingers scratching against his scalp lightly, enjoying the growl it initiated from him as she did so. She would definitely have to use that move to her advantage.

Joey kicked his door shut and walked them over to his bed, lowering Lauren to the floor, their kiss remaining unbroken. His fingers returned to the zip of her dress, lowering it torturously slowly, always giving her a chance to back out. She had no plans to do any such thing though.

Her lips left his as her breath hitched at the feel of him beginning to peel the dress from her body. She watched, breathing heavily, as his dark eyes followed the progress of the material down her body, his fingers brushing tenderly over her collar bone, the side of her breasts, her stomach, her hips… She was shivering by the time he gripped her hands, helping to steady her as she shuffled the rest of the way out of the dress and slipped off her heels.

Lauren looked up at him, a much more significant height difference between them now. He suddenly seemed a lot burlier than before. She liked it…a lot. She leaned into him, her arms curling around his waist, his warm skin heating hers. He returned the embrace, his fingers pressing into the ridges of her spine and making her shudder slightly. She could feel a tell-tale bulge pressing into her stomach and she felt her stomach clench with want.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Joey questioned, having to hear her say it just one last time, before it really was too late. "It's not just the wine making you think you do?"

"I'm sure," she replied, smiling softly. "And you should probably know that I've imagined this moment a _lot_, and wine had as little to with it then as it does now."

Joey grinned at this information, the thought of her having fantasised about him only turning him on even more. He leaned down and reclaimed her lips again, just for the hell of it, his fingers sliding upwards on her back until they reached the clasp of her bra. He would be lying if he said he wasn't desperate to get it off her.

"So this isn't still about doing something wrong the right way?" he questioned. At this point he almost didn't care if it was.

"Does it feel wrong to you?" Lauren gasped slightly, self-consciousness invading her senses and making her nervous again. Nervous…and very aware of how little clothing she had on.

"Nothing has ever felt less wrong, Lo," he assured her, a heady mix of lust, anticipation and sincerity in his tone.

Lauren nodded, relieved that they were still on the same page. Pulling back slightly, her hands moved to his front where she laid her palm flat against his chest for a moment, feeling his heart thump rhythmically beneath.

"Joe?" she asked after a second, sliding her hands downwards, enjoying the feel of his muscles rippling under her touch. She would possibly never get enough of that. He hummed in response, his forehead falling onto hers as her hands found the button of his jeans. "Why are you wearing more clothes than me?"

"Feel free to sort that out, babe," he murmured, allowing her to take over for a while, a low moan escaping his lips as she teasingly ran her fingers over his erection over the top of his jeans. He had been right before; feisty Lauren was never far from the surface.

Once his jeans were gone, Joey picked Lauren up again, dropping her down onto his bed as patiently as he could do. With only underwear left though, the pace seemed to have increased tenfold between them, and Joey wasted no time in finally ridding her of her bra, his hands cupping her breasts with as much reverence as if he'd just uncovered the Holy Grail.

"Joe," she breathed as his lips closed over her nipple, her fingers sliding through his hair as he continued to worship her, only stopping when she groaned, writhing beneath him. "Need more."

Joey smirked up at her, leaning up and kissing her lips briefly but firmly before resuming his exploration of her body, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses down her stomach until he reached the only item of clothing she had left.

"Ah," she groaned as he pressed one final kiss on her clit over the top of her knickers, her hips bucking automatically beneath him. She couldn't ever remember feeling this affected before. "Joey, I swear to god if you don't stop teasing me…"

Joey laughed at this, enjoying how receptive she was being to him. He did as commanded though, and made short work of removing the rest of their clothing before crawling back up the bed to her where she immediately pulled his lips to hers, shuddering as his impressive erection pressed against her core.

She felt him reach down and run his fingers over her entrance, groaning as he felt how wet she was. He slowly pushed a finger inside her, muffling her gasp with his lips, his tongue sliding into her mouth as he added another finger inside, feeling his erection twitch at how tight she was.

Lauren felt like she was on fire. Every time she had imagined being like this with Joey, all those dreams which had left her unsatisfied, all those times she had had to finish what her imagination had started herself…none of it could have prepared her for the actual experience. Normally a little more foreplay would have been welcome to her, but seeing that Joey already appeared to have brought her dangerously close to the edge, she was done with waiting now. She wanted him. Now.

Just as she was about to tell him, he removed his fingers, a disappointed whimper tearing from her. She felt him lean away from her and she ran her hands up his back, tilting her head to the side.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not even bothering to keep the whininess out of her voice. Joey moved back over her and crushed his lips to hers, unable to resist it; the sight of her in his bed like this was doing things to him he didn't even understand. It had never felt this intense before…and they weren't even doing anything yet.

His lips leaving hers he waved his hand in front of her face, his fingers clenched around a small, square, foil packet. Lauren's mouth formed a small 'o'; she hadn't even been thinking about contraception. What the hell was he doing to her?! Those damn dimples were clearly to blame…

"That's what I thought," Joey said, smirking at her slightly dumbfounded look. He moved to sit up and was surprised when she followed him, reaching over and stopping him as he started to rip the packet.

"Can I do it, please?" she requested, sounding slightly shy again. Joey nodded, and let her take over, the muscles of his stomach clenching as she slowly rolled the condom onto his length, her eyes dark as she stroked him a couple of times, her lips slightly parted.

"Fuck, Lo," he croaked after a minute, his hand covering hers around him and stilling her movement. "This ain't going to last long if you keep that up."

Lauren smiled at him, pleased to know that he was feeling as wound up as she was. Letting go of him, she let Joey coax her back down onto the bed, his hands running over her again as he did so, yet again admiring the sight of her in his bed, a blush covering her cheeks, her lips swollen.

"I need you, Joe," she told him, pulling him back down. He held some of his weight on his forearms but put some onto Lauren, pushing her into the mattress slightly. "Like, now."

"Your wish is my command, babe," he breathed, attempting to calm himself down slightly as he aligned himself with her entrance. Lauren wound her arms around his neck, her gaze never leaving his, challenging him a little bit. They both liked a challenge, after all.

Joey pushed into her slowly, both of them moaning as the sensation. Lauren pulled his lips down to hers, kissing him fiercely in an effort to distract herself from the slight pain as her body adjusted to his size. It had been a while since she had had sex, and it was definitely obvious. Then again, it didn't help that Joey was indeed apparently gifted in all areas of his anatomy…

"You okay?" he asked into the kiss, stopping for a moment as he felt her tense-up. He didn't know whether he should tell her he was barely half-way in or not.

"More," she breathed after a moment as the pain subsided slightly, the slight raspy quality to her voice going straight to Joey's groin. It took literally every ounce of control he possessed to not simply pound straight into her. He resisted though, continuing to slowly move into her until he was fully sheathed within her.

They started slow as Joey let her get comfortable, allowing her to lead the pace. It took her a minute or two, but he felt as she started to respond to him again, her lips ripping from his as she gasped, feeling him move with slightly more force within her, creating friction against that heavenly place within her.

It didn't take long for them to find a rhythm after that, both of them hurtling with more and more speed towards that cliff-edge. Their kisses became sloppier as Joey's thrusts become more vigorous. Lauren's nerve ends were on fire again. It had definitely never felt this good. Her fingers scratched at the back of his neck again, her hips lifting to meet his thrusts, her orgasm teasing her now.

"Joe," she gasped, her fingers digging into his shoulders as the pressure almost became unbearable. In an attempt to push herself closer to the edge, she wound her legs around his waist, her hips shifting against his and causing them both to groan as the movement changed the angle he was entering her at.

"Just let go, baby," he murmured, his lips at her ear, one hand tangling with one of hers whilst his other reached between them and pressed against her clit, feeling her tighten impossibly on him. He brushed his thumb against her repeatedly, revelling in the sounds she was making because of him. He needed her to come soon, because he wasn't going to last much longer.

"Ah," she choked, her eyes rolling back into her head as a combination of Joey's lips sucking at her neck, his thumb against her clit, and his now ruthless thrusts pushed her over the edge, her orgasm wracking through her.

The feel of her coming apart around him sent Joey tumbling after her, one of his hands tangling with hers as he pulsed within her, his groans muffled into her neck as he collapsed against her. He shifted slightly for a moment to get rid of the condom before resting back down on top of her.

They lay for a while, sated and relieved and ironically thankful for that expensive bottle of Derek's wine. Lauren sighed, enjoying the feeling of Joey's weight pressing her down properly now, little aftershocks still coursing through her every now and then. Joey, in turn, pressed sporadic kisses to her skin whenever she shuddered slightly, his eyes closed as he nuzzled against her.

"I should probably text someone at home and tell them I'm staying here," she mused eventually, not making any effort to actually get up and retrieve her phone from her bag. She was just too comfortable to be bothered with that rubbish.

"Mm," Joey replied, pressing a kiss against her collar bone as he shifted his head against her. "Probably."

"You'd have to move," she informed him, hugging him closer to her as she did so, just to make sure that he didn't take her words as an invitation to do as she said.

"That's a shame," he mumbled, mock sincerity in his voice. Lauren laughed slightly, stroking her fingers through his hair softly as a feeling of contentment settled within her. She was one hundred percent certain that there would be drama in the future, but if this was what being with Joey was like – and she didn't just mean in terms of sex, although the sex was _amazing_ – then it would be worth it.

The sound of her phone ringing jolted her slightly; she hadn't realised she had drifted off. It had probably only been for a minute or two, but she had properly zonked out. And judging from Joey's groan, he had too.

"I better get that," Lauren mumbled, pushing against his shoulder and whimpering as he finally moved; immediately missing the feel of him on top of her.

Lauren made quick work of the phone call, telling her dad that she was staying with Alice and Joey (slight fib, she realised) and that she would see him tomorrow. Throwing her phone down, she climbed straight back into bed and snuggled into Joey's body, smiling as his arms went around her tightly. Yes, she could definitely get used to this…

"Joe?" she asked after a moment, leaning her head against his chest. He hummed, his voice rumbling under her ear. "I… I love you."

Joey didn't answer straight away and Lauren feared that she had finally overstepped the mark, jumped the line. However, Joey's lips against the top of her head calmed her down, as did the feel of his arms tightening around her.

"Love you," he said softly, almost shyly. Lauren smiled and looked up at him, leaning up and pressing a kiss to his lips.

Thank goodness for blurred lines.

**THE END**

**A/n:**** So...I think it's safe to say they blurred those lines, yes?**

**Hope you enjoyed this little story. I've had a love/hate relationship with it - hopefully it's just a relationship of love for everyone else...?**

**Thank you SO MUCH for all of your reviews - I appreciate them so much. Will reply to the ones from the last chapter later on.**

**Let me know if you enjoyed the final part. x**


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